| Show The Free Traders I 4 I LOVE YOU t I tt t Lee Anderson Hoy no- HoyI al I Canadian Mounted foils foils- sergeant ser ur r- r j geant li Is sent ent to Stony Hang te to arr arrest l a man named for tor murder II Jle Ile li Is also alia Instructed to look after atter Jim reputed d head had of ot the free Traders Illicit liquor runner runners At Little Fall Falls he hi find ands l' l Telly lly I Is I. credited with having halna found a gold mine aad I I. I missing mining At the hotel hoti appears appear a girl Ctrl obviously out of at place In Inthe Inthe the rough surroundings A half hair breed Pierre and a companion Shorty Short anno annoy the Ihl girl An An An- denon deron interfere In her behalf The girl ell set eta out for tor Lake which li II also ale Anderson tin tive He lie overtakes overtake her and the two men with whom he had trouble trouble trou ble the night before Khe lih li Is u u of or him and the two men are hostile Pierre and nd Shorty ride tide on on Anderson and the girl following In the hill hili the road It is blown up before bAton and behind the two Anderson with his hi ho horse hone li ii hurled down the mountain moun moun- tain side aide senseless consciousness Anderson finds the girl has hu disappeared appeared but lout he hll conclude she die Is I. alive and end probably probably aLl ably In the rower power of or Pierre and Shorty On toot foot he h. makes his hi way wy to Elston lake There he finds find his lii companion of ot the da day before forI and with a girl I Etelle a former sweetheart of or Anderson who had abused his hll confidence and almost wrecked his hl life strikes I Estelle and after a fight Anderson with help escape escapee with the girl Anderson Anderson's companions companion mind li is clouded and nd she he lie Is ta suffering sot suf fering i with a dislocated knee Itne Anderson ej the knee and make makes the girl as al comfortable as a. possible He lie ha has haa a broken rib CHAPTER VII VII Continued Continued 6 Where tin and I 17 What has bal happened happened hap hop she naked Lee Jee saw sow nt at once that she hind no consciousness of ot anything that had occurred since the catastrophe and probably It would be Bomo time before the memory mory of or that came hack back to her He lie must protect her t the thc shock of ot the realization until site she was os able obI obIto to bear It Your horse threw you ho he an- an You hurt your our knee and cut cui your jour our head bend You will e have to keep kell still for tor null o hlll Ho and ond ando wo o shall have ho to remain remain re re- main here for a few tiny Are you In much pale pain M My head bead aches and my knee IlDe yes knee yes It does doel hurt a It Isn't broken Is IsIt IsIt isIt It It It was WOI dislocated I had bad to set It it itOh Oh I I A faint color crept Into her cheeks There was a little silence A Are ra you jou OU a 11 doctor then No I J WOI Just a bumble humble orderly and stretcher bearer on the western front Leo answered nut Hut you ou pee see It had to to he be attended to and so I J- J well I 1 did It After youve you've drunk some tt tt-n Im I'm going to be an orderly again and your head bead Hut my hair hair my hair You cut my hair oft off I she Bho exclaimed putting her hands hand up to her head Was that necessary ary You were by the hair under your jour our horse and there was danger that It might roll im un you at any uny moment Lee pre prevaricated pre oriented She patted her head again felt the sagged jarred locks about her neck anti and looked at him with eyes ejes In which a little mirth appeared appEar Thank you Mr she said Im so glad you take tako It In that way I J wa was afraid you jou OU might It tilt to e me I J might night only well only well you jou see Ive I've been thinking of ot liming having It bobbed for tor stone some time only I J never got around to It I dont don't think you OU made u II very clean Job of tit it It did you jou 7 They laughed but she was weak tuk end nd nd after she had drunk the tea ten I J Lee made tide for tor her she site felt fell asleep until the middle of ot the afternoon by hl which h time Lee hud had completed the shelter over o her Detter he hc asked when sho she awoke o Site She nodded You dont don't look nearly so a s now nw sh she said And Im I'm not In much pain Hut But will I J lime have to tolie tolie tolie lie herd on my toy back Ick for fur duj days dus s As a mutter of ot tact fact the sooner you jou OU tr try to walk the tilt better bolter Tits Im going to cut a 0 serviceable sll crutch fur for jou and nd you'll be able to hobble bobble about the Ihl vamp Lump Just us as t stun oon us you feel Inclined lo 10 u. u lout But youre you're lIIro not hurt are you your Y YIt It asked the Iho girl our Your left arm seems stiff I 1 hurt my ny side n R II little tI 11 but hut It'll b b b. till nil right In u It few Lee answered She wrinkled her fort forehead Do No you lU Know know- she ahe said I dont don't quite fulling falling I was WIlS riding you jou ou buy U uy Were Wrt we e both riding Then lIn where 0 ore are re our horses They Thy were ba badly lly hurt said gaud Lee It because became necessary to put them out of It their suffering The girl was US trying hard to remember ber A bad Iud fall then How did It II happen A bad full fall In title this forest A little distance hack back I carried you rou here hert We fell tIll down a ruck rocky slope Oh t She he remained silent a little evidently y trying to remember Then ct p opted You rou nave b en wonderfully good to 10 me You rou know t I trusted you jou OU the minute I J sew w ton inn find end I wasn't the least bit frittered rIp Id waking up and finding in self Alne here In tile tie forest with you I 1 f hl hope or you jou oU will be able aLII to bear the Ih wilting here saId bald Lee Let Well Veil go 0 on just as BI soon sIOn as os Its It's possible Hut I'm Im not Dot really lu Iu n any ony hurr hurry the te fir girl I answered It was odd olM owreN how ow rn reN the tie to be Ic now now- now iu and l By Victor Rousseau rich Cop b br by W W. n O. Chapman B o. I how the future had ceased to trouble I her tier Its so 10 glorious to be In the woods again and sad at this time Ume of the I year roar above aLoe everything Its It's such tuch a I along long ong time since Ince I was Will in the woods be be- fore Ive I've been living In a big bill city you rou know nothing know nothing but Lut blocks of louses houses and asphalt and stone I J felt like a prisoner there And e Lee wondered again et at her acQuiescence acquiescence ac so- quiescence In this new turn of ot fate tale Now Now may inny I J wash that cut In your head bend and tie It for tor you ou Yes reI doctor she he smiled at him He lie boiled the bondage bandage washed the cut In bolted boiled water waler and ond retied the strip of ot cotton about It The girl was wu still too weak to talk very much lint Hut It was the most wonderful thing that mil had eter er happened to him sitting there hero with lIh her In that Intimate com- com tor forgetting that she he had been hlen ren at nt odd odds with him putting aside all nil the memories of conflict forgetting too oo that she was 08 a woman seeing In her ler only a comrade After awhile Lee made some lome cakes In the a of ot the Ore tire and cooked some Poole bacon The girl was WOI able to eat eata eato a o little and he felt III his liH appetite re- re turning urn Ing Undoubtedly he lie had bad gone one through the worst of It It A Again aln they tint sat In silence till 1111 the girl said Do 10 you know I have hate forgotten your I Ilie lie He hail not told h her r but hr he said Lee A Anderson Anderson was wal a common enough nome name In the tho district and ond would convey nothing to 10 her And Andas she seemed still to be bt fret fret- In ing ng or puzzling Lee Jee laid lold his hand on un M IH-M and ond said Boltl you ou worry We shall go goon goon on just ns as soon as I Its It's possible to just what Ive I've been wonderIng wondering wonder wonder- Ing about sh site she o answered Its very cry l H t t l Where Am I 17 Wh What t Has Happened She Asked silly filly of ot me me but but where where Is II It that we weare weme me are gUng And as al JI Lee looked at nt her In astonishment astonishment as as- she went nt on Its curious you ou know Mr r. r Anderson Anther Ander son on nn but I J dont don't seem exactly to remember remember re rl member r where we met Ill I'll either her or why I left Itt that place where place where whre was It That big city lIy who whose t names name's slipped my memory for the moment Nor or why we came cume to the woods came woods came back to tu the wools wood you OU know she corrected And Ami then who am urn 1 I 17 I J had my nil name III I on the tip till of ot my tongue a II moment mo mOo moment ment ago ngo and Ill I'll know soon I J suppose sup pure pose t tint hut Its It's just its Just t now It all to tn be he contused confused ld somehow And then fee lt readied that her memory of ot tI the past w wn as completely obliterated I CHAPTER CI VIII While Memory Slept No 1 the girl hind hall not completely forgotten forgotten for fur gotten for It wen not nOI exactly a blank to her tike She had hul a vague ague recollection of t n R number of but hut everything e appeared to 10 be bl shadowy end and con cone used on and when she ht tried to 10 piece It to together the fragment fragments slipped d ou out of ot her grasp I It wa was Willi In name names and places that the lapse lall chiefly occurred t Including her 11 own n Identity and It was this Ihl fact that gave ave Lee Iee cause for meditation She he had lIall lived In the forest fOl In childhood child hood hold she teemed scented to recall a II aUlt visit to them of ot recent years jeara tau nt lit any rate rul she had all the woodcraft of ot one to whom wham the forest was home She ha had been educated In a II convent she thought and ond hind bad been living lUIng for tor sev lIev jean dears In a large city studying She thought she had been stud studying to lo l he be e a medical missionary among Ih the IheI I Indians Thus she was s not cut off ort from that tha Ils as association of ot habits tastes fasten and ex n- that goes gillS to make milk the personality per per- she he did not nit feel that she had bad lost lust very try much and It was always a aIt as 81 asit It she were upon the point l of ot remembering I bering e I Out of ot ibis this R vague ague blurred dream sh she hud find awakened to find her herself elt In th tb the o I 1 t e. e the knowl- knowl edge of how or why she abe bad come there here It might have bare been the concussion from rom the tall fall but bat Lee o over ver r the case decided that It was Will I I much more like a I case cue of shock shell sad nd that th the Injury to her ber head had bad hadeen been beD een only a I contributing c cause cause ue Me Re made mad h her r a I crutch crotch next nest morning and nd b by the afternoon sh she Ibe felt well enough to hor hobble ble a I few steps about he time camp Th The accident which had bad temporarily her memory seemed to have ibave wrought a strange change hang In her nature She Bhe was Wal no longer wildly Ully anxious to push puh on to her er destination she accepted Lee as II a fact act In her life lite and showed how completely com- com the she trusted him despite the Intimacy In which they were both living lie ne was 81 sure lure that her memory would suddenly come orne back to her com com- And memory did come back In n dreams n as with shell shocked pa fiB bents but Lut only to vanish with the wilkin waking At night I Lee I lying near neRr her beneath another not her rough shelter of ot boughs that he 19 had made for tor himself would hear hEur heartier tier ler tossing and moaning and ond uttering fragments of ot sentences Day merged Into Inlo day Lees Lee's rib was healing well and the girl was Will beginning begin begin- Ing ning to set et her foot toot to the ground At nut first she was dependent upon ullon him In nearly early everything thing lie He helped her to 10 lall take ake her first steps step without the crutch leaning caning upon his bis shoulder They were always I ways together It vi was as so wonderful a companion companion- ship hip It was that comrad comradeship of ot which Lee Ite had always dreamed And It WB was the more wonderful perhaps because e the girls girl's severance se from the past gave It 1111 a sort ort of ot unreality 8 as It If It were vere a little piece of ot paradise which Ihl they hey had snatched for tor themselves out ot of f the sum total of ot human humon happiness Soon she Khe began to assume charge of ot the he camp comp and ond the cooking And Lee LeI lying at her feet listening while she talked or lying take awake at night beneath beneath be be- neath his hll shelter In the dread of ot hearing hear hear- Ing ng her tier moan came at ot last lut to realize that hat his feeling for tor her was becoming something more than the mere enjoy enjoy- meat ment of ot her companionship He loved her he sometimes admitted admitted admitted admit admit- ted to himself and ond when a word or glance of ot his would send lend the blood mantling Into her cheek he dared to think that his hll love was TU return returned d. d nd And now nosy he cared no longer whether her ler memory of ot the past ever came hack back to her Almost better to let her herIve live Ive In Ignorance of all that had hall distressed dis- dis trued her He lie begun began to dread the Inevitable day dllY when remembrance would come comen cometo cometo to n blot out their paradise Only a little Ittle Incident would be needed some little Ittle shock that would knit the rave slat led ends of memory and th then then then- n- n Then what would lie Ill before them Another thing to bo be apprehended WR was the day so BO near now now when they must mist t leave their woodland paradise Autumn had returned wonderfully but hut there here was wu a sharper horper tang In the air airach each ach morning everything was dead and Ice formed every night upon the pool beneath their little spring And It seemed now as 81 If It Lees Lee's ees ee's search for tor Telly Pelly would have to be pro- pro protracted through the winter months It f hits his Inquiries at the mission proved pro fruitless It would mean menn returning to I Little Falls for tor a sleigh and dogs Then there was the matter of ot the Free Traders Lee Iee would find his hla hands full tull soon loon enough nough lo 1 0 you ou know L Lee e said the girl one da day I J ott often n feel teel as ss If It I w were re on the very verge verge of ot remembering And when I 1 wake In the morning Just for foran foran foran an Instant I J feel a dlf different person as u asif uIt It if f I 1 had hOlI remembered And I 1 am an afraid of ot remembering It Is as It If remembrance re rp would bring brine back bock something something some some- something thing terrible with It Who ho urn inn I 17 You are ore Just you said Lee Iee smile smil- Ing lag enough for me Where did we meet In the range I 1 was alone And then I had hall an on accident and wens was thrown thrOn n from my lIr horse lt And you jou ou too It Is so strange I Know that I lived ll In a large lorge- not Ion long I 11 ago go anti that I 1 was 1 so glad to 10 get hock buck to 10 the woods Rut Hut where hert was 1111 I riding That's the big problem loin lem that we ha have ha hato e to solve l Isn't nt It Y She looked at nt him hint earnestly Lee 1 site she he said solemnly sometimes I 1 hope Ole I never neter I shall hall remember She hl made no plans lent leaving 11 Ing every pry thin to 10 Lee JIt and I nothing was decided lly ily the middle of If the second week g she e could walk fairly well her strength had come back and the little period of ot was drawing to 10 Its lis end nil It was w-as Ine inevitable liable that the problem should be faced For tor the first fint time she Ihl had a Lee |
